[Validation of the Spanish version of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire].

Introduction And Objectives: The Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) is the most commonly used instrument for evaluating quality of life in patients with heart failure. It comprises 21 items and two dimensions: the physical and the emotional. The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the MLHFQ.

[Usefulness of coronary risk assessment using the equation of the Framingham study: a case control study].

Background And Objective: During the last decade, recommendations for coronary heart disease prevention have emphasized the need of an assessment of coronary risk. The objective of this study was to assess the usefulness of the Framingham risk function for the estimation of coronary risk in our population, assessing the accuracy of the coronary risk as a diagnostic test (assuming that a coronary risk >20% is a positive diagnosis test of coronary disease).

Patients And Method: Prospective case-control study, carried out in a public tertiary hospital.

Prophylactic treatment after myocardial infarction in primary care: how far can we go?

Background: Despite best practice, it may not be achievable in some patients to reach the optimal goals of secondary prevention recommendations for various reasons, such as co-morbidity, contraindications for some drugs or side effects.

Objective: Our aim was to estimate the achievable standards for audit purposes in primary care for prophylactic treatment of secondary prevention of myocardial infarction.

Methods: We conducted a survey of consecutive patients with a hospital diagnosis of first acute myocardial infarction during 1997 who were identified from discharge books from four hospitals and interviewed at their primary health centre 2 years after admission.

[Cardiac surgery in elderly patients].

Objective: The morbimortality of elderly patients, (age 70 years or older), who underwent surgery for valvular and coronary artery disease in the last 17 years was analyzed.

Patients And Method: A total of 1,305 patients (654 valvular, 531 coronary and 120 combined) operated from January 1985 to December 2000 were retrospectively studied. Mean age was 73.

Infective endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus: deleterious effect of anticoagulant therapy.

Background: The use of anticoagulant therapy in patients with infective endocarditis (IE) is a controversial issue.

Objective: To study the impact of anticoagulant therapy on the clinical outcome, mortality, and cause of death in a series of patients with native and prosthetic left-sided Staphylococcus aureus IE.

Methods: This report is based on all consecutive cases of IE diagnosed at our hospital between 1975 to 1997.